A PPARENTLY HIS ENGLISH UPBRINGING didn’t prepare him for our American mania for mowing. Andre the now-Nebraskan doodler, who recently became a homeowner with a yard of his own to tame, seems to be feeling a little, shall we say, agitated. If I recall correctly, Robert Frost didn’t say, “Good weed whackers make good neighbors,” did he? Sigh. You? Any power tools got you buzzing mad?
THE LECTURE that he’s been giving for a number of years is not-so-subtly called “Kill Your Lawn.” Ecological horticulturist Dan Jaffe Wilder knows that starting over and creating an entire native habitat instead of a lawn isn’t for everyone. But Dan just wants to grab our attention and get us to start to make some changes at least in the way we care for the turfgrass we do want in our landscapes. And maybe give up a little square footage of it to some other kind of more diverse planting, too, like the wild strawberries (Fragaria virginiana, inset). Alternative, more eco-focused styles of lawn care, along with some lawn alternatives is what he and I talked about on the podcast. Dan is Director of Applied Ecology at Norcross Wildlife Foundation in Wales, Massachusetts, and its 8,000-acre sanctuary. He’s also co-author with Mark Richardson of the book “Native Plants for New England Gardens.”
(Stream it below, read the illustrated transcript or subscribe free.)
Yes, I am surrounded with the power tool people. The mowers, the table saws, the weed whackers, the leaf blowers. They all drive me crazy :). And we all live in the city–tiny lots. We use a push mower–gets the job done in minutes. If they used their tools in the middle of the day, I *might* like it better. One guy starts up his table saw every evening at around 5:00–including Sat. and Sun.–just when you think you can sit outside and enjoy your garden in peace and quiet. I agree with the synchronized mowing idea–let’s get all tools with engines in sync!
I totally relate to Andre! I am so NOT a morning person, so the weekend crack of dawn power yardworkers are not appreciated at all! If you are going to get up that early, shouldnt your activities be quite and meditative? not fueled by diesel?!
We have watering days here (due to water restrictions). I agree with the synchronized lawnmowing — do it just like we do with the watering.
It appears the guys in my neighborhood are engaged in a lawn equipment arms race. The big leather boots come on, goggles, ear muffs and out come the biggest, loudest lawnmowers, blowers, trimmers, and yes stump grinders available to buy, borrow, or rent. You’d swear it was a community of lumberjacks…with postage stamp sized lots ;-)
The mowing doesn’t make me mad so much as it makes me feel despair. Really doesn’t matter when; I work at home and have had days when I would step outside periodically throughout and hear mowing every single time. Yes, from 7:00AM until 8:00PM, at least one mower was always running within earshot. Right now it’s 6:20PM at the end of a rainy day and I can hear a mower.
Personal lawns are among the biggest crime committed against the general population… maybe even a bigger crime than oversized SUVs. We plant lawns with nearly every house, and the greatest component of our relationship with them is to keep them from growing. Well… we keep them growing so we can cut them down. How stupid is that?
Everyone should take the challenge of replacing as much of their lawn as they can with useful alternatives: meadows provide cover for beneficial insects and insect-eating animals… and seeds for attractive birds. Kitchen gardens provide food for people. Fruit bush hedges, grape arbors, fruit trees over meadow grasses, wooded yards with leafy ground covers are all more useful than lawns. Let your yard become a natural area that belongs in nature rather than a constant battle zone against nature.
I’ll be writing about this topic periodically on both my blogs in coming months: Your Small Kitchen Garden and Your Home Kitchen Garden. Please keep up the chatter about it.
Welcome, Daniel. I guess we didn’t need to convince you about our cause. :) Thanks for the well-said words on lawn alternatives, and for your visit. See you soon again.
Personally, I like to mow the lawn. It gives me an hour and a half, or two hour walk on my own property. I think it is a bit stupid to mow the grass early in the morning, or to soon after it rains. The lawn should be dry, not wet in any way, because it puts strain on the mower, and the wet grass builds up quickly under the mower, and stalls it out OFTEN. When I see a person mowing really early, I think they are new to the process, and don’t know how to do it right. I live in an area, PROBABLY not unlike the “Countess of Nassau”. Most of the neighboring properties have lawn service people on them any given day of the week. I think it is fine that there are crews of men and women being employed in the gardening industry, and it keeps our area looking Crisp and Clean. There is nothing worse than a person letting their lawn growing to tall, especially if it is next to you. I like the well groomed look! I had a neighbor who is a doctor. I would be out front , working on my garden, and he would jog by. This was a constant thing until, he moved to an even more affluent part of town. The doctor would have gotten better exercise walking behind a self propelled mower on his own lawn, than jogging along a busy road. The HUMBLE process of mowing, mush have been to “COMMON’ for him! Another lady that I know, was SHOCKED when a Haughty social lady said to her at a community meeting…”O, You are the lady that mowes her own lawn”. …… Doesn’t that make you LAUGH!
ATV’s and those motorcycles with the glass exhausts to make them extra loud. Oh, and lumber trucks at 4:30 AM, with air breaks. No one mows Sunday here, since the church services would be disturbed, and no one mows before 9am on Saturdays, but heaven forbid if you don’t happen to mow for a week or two. I’m the renegade with daffodil grass islands, paths in long grass and a preference for messing in dirt instead of mowing. When my feet are soaked, its finally time.
So true. So very, very true. I need to have this. Any way that Andre would be willing to sell a print of it?
Sorry to come late to the party but in defense of retired types? It is often too hot to mow during the day – that is hard on the “older” mower (cough cough) and hard on the grass. That while you are settling in to enjoy a drink mower has waited all afternoon long for it to cool off enough to mow quickly before the mosquitoes set up for the night. At least that is what I “hear”….
I did prevail in getting rid of most of the lawn and moving to a push-reel mower but will confess to years of cocktail hour two-stroke engine disruption prior to that.
Apologies, universe!
Welcome, Deb. Thanks for your confession (and yes, it’s too hot midday, you are right). See you soon again, I hope…maybe at cocktail hour? :)